Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-10

p;omed was q horse OF great beauty
and futpess OF form, fifteen hands
three inches high, clear chestnut,
without white mark, exceptbne scarcely
perceptible on The ankle OF hind foot.
BE was large for thoroughbred ; and
had the merit OF producing horses OF
size from almost oil mares with whom
he was brought into union; and he
scarcely ever failed 10 produce racer.
I reproduce these facts in the his
tory of Diomed az introductory to what
| will say in reply TO structures upon
him in which writers on the subject OF
modern trotters have indulged. Con-
spicuous among these and one OF the
ablest snd most intelligent Of them all
is Mr.. II. T. Helm, Of Chicago, author
of most valuable and learned volume
on "Amcricsn Roadstcrs and Trotters.
Luroc. eos OF DIoMED.
Sreaiing Of the Duroc family OF trot-
tiers, Mr.. Helm says: "This front leg
PROPORTION belonging othe descendants
of L urocl has presented to my mind
strong reason in support of the early
ard cflen-esselied claim that Sir
Archy was by imported Gabriel aud not
by Diomed, as generally supposed. 1t
is known as matter OF traditional his
tory that Castianira, tue dam OF Sir
Arcby, received both Gabriel and
Iiomed the same season and Archy
and Gabriel were both brown IN color,
and DiOmed chestnut yet in all the
produce of Sir Charles, Bertrand, Viz
giniap, Sumter, KosciuskO, Pacific,
Timoleon, John Richards, Bctsey
Richards. Stakeholder, Sir William,
and other sons and daughters of Sir
Archy, the bays and browns were in n
large majority, willie descendants OF
DiCmed were chestnut by an equal
majority. Besides this, the peculiar
blood defects aud infrmities that
marked the descendants of Diomed
were, in large part, unknown among
the family OF Sir Arcby."
What the author calls on "early aud
often-asserttd suggestion would prove
on examination not to have originated
for ten or fifteen years after the death
of Gabriel, and TO have been treated
and dismissed as absurd, by the COM
munity in which the facts were known,
as soon as it appeared. 1t is true that
Colonel John 1ayloe, Gabriets owner
and importer, did so far treat the
c0R0rd with respect as to send an en-
phatic denial of its truth to the Amert-
can Farmer in 1927.
Before proceeding further with the
refutation of the assertion in question,
/ shall introduce more OF what MIR.
Helm says of Duroc. | will promise
that Amanda, the dam of Duroc, was a
daughter of Grey Diomed, who was a
son of imported Medley, who was son
of English Gimcrack. The best strains
of American trotters came, as has been
shown, from a union Of the blood OF
imported Messenger with that OF
Dicmed, through his son Duroc.
Though bred in Virginia, Duroc WAS
sold and taken when quite young to
New York, where 10y union with Miller's
Damsel, a daughter Of Messenger, he
produced the great running horse,
american Eclipse, and by union OF him
self and his descendants with other
daughters or descendants of Messenger,
be became the progenitor, amongst
others, of what are known as the Ameri-
can Star family of trotters. Mr.. Helm
speaks of Duroc and his descendants as
follows: Their distinctive features
are large and powerful frame, wide
across the hips. a long and powerful
thigh, andoyaskin well let down in the
hook this last feature of necessity re-
sulting in q rather crooked hind leg,
often very crooked peculiarly which
seems to have within itself some pecu-
liar adaptation to the trotting gait
causing the animal to go wide apart
behind, giving him powerful leverage
and one of increased length, and being
always attended by the open, loose.
even struggling gait, which is the sure
indicator of trotting adaptation.
amanda, the dam OF Duroc, was q
chestnut and one of the best mares OF
her day. She passed a career OF dis
| tinction on the turf, produced only
Duroc, and died from an injury. Du-
roc's sire was imported Diomed, a small
chestnut horse that was the winner of
the first Derby in England, and died at
the age Of thirty -one, leaving numer-
Gus and distinguished progeny, his
| blood entering into nearly every great
family of race-horses in America. From
this sire Duroc derived serious and
deeply. seated defects and infirmities,
besides those from which his chief ex-
cellence has been drawn"
feel q personal interest in Duroc, as
having been foaled in my native
county of Powhatan, and bred there by
Mr.. Wade Mostly, of blood kin with
myself. am unwilling that his excel
lence shall be impeached in any degree.
especially at the expense of Doomed.
his sire, in whom and his descendants
every intelligent Virginia man feels an
inherited pride.
Mr.. Helm never speaks OF Duroc or
any one Of bis descendants without
giving facts which demonstrate their
supreme merit as trotters, nor yet with
out the most pains-taking and dis
paraging illusions to the "defects and
infrmities OF blood, which he declares
they have derived from Diomed. 1t is
in support OF this theory of Diomed's
constitutional infirmities" that he re-
wives and repeats the suggestion that
the stalvart Sir AIchy, progenitOr of q
mighty host OF stalwart sons and daugh-
tiers, cOULd not haze been the son OF
the small unsound chestnut. Do
med, but must hare 6cen the son OF
the "brown horse Gabriel.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE FINE HORSE GA
BRIEL.
II the transmission OF disease is To
be weighed in determining the paterni-
ty of Sir Archy, we must rule out GA
briel, who died of disease prematurely
when ten years old whereas Diomed
lived to the age of thirty-one, and was
noted in two continents for his vigor on
the turf and in the stud. Nor is there
anything in the argument from color.
Gabriel was "dark bay" ands coarse
horse" Sir Archie was erich bay
and as fine in form and finish as Do
med. But even il Sir Archie had been
a brown, which he was not. he would
have had o right to be, because his dam,
Castianira, herself was q brown. See
american Farmer, Volume *, page
143. Her foals were--one black, three
bays, two brown, and one chestnut ;
Sir Archy, son Of Diomed, being